


Shrike

by Heavydirtys0ul, things-we-used-tc-share (Heavydirtys0ul)



Series: Wasteland, Baby! [25]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: M/M, let's see if anyone dies today, man I can't believe this fic is almost over, welp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-17
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-10-20 16:57:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20678783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heavydirtys0ul/pseuds/Heavydirtys0ul, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heavydirtys0ul/pseuds/things-we-used-tc-share
Summary: The sky is cracking,is it a song or a scream?





	1. When I'm reborn

**Author's Note:**

> obligatory notice but I actually started tearing up as I sat down to write this part. I've had this moment planned since I started writing this series and I just can't believe we're here! I actually managed to complete an idea I had!
> 
> Anyway warnings for attempted murder, violence, the usual shenanigans. Hijinks will ensue.

"_The words hung above_  
_But never would form_  
_Like a cry at the final breath that is drawn_  
_Remember me love when I'm reborn_  
_As the shrike to your sharp_  
_And glorious thorn,"_

_-Shrike, Hozier_

* * *

Eyes that had once been blue open the colour of winter rain and sleet, the irises so pale it's as though all colour had been drained. The overgrowth of the trees had wound around his body like a protective field, housing his beating heart as Patton healed in the cold. "Did you sleep well?" Remus hummed softly as the roots of the trees and the foliage shrunk back into the ground, leaving the once-Human to sit up slowly, his nose wrinkling a little in disaster. Patton startles a little as his mind plays catch up over the past few hours, and then some. The thunder crackles above and everything around him is caged in darkness, he knows that this is his own doing, but he doesn't quite know how to stop it. "You've been out for a fair few hours now my dear," The taloned hand outstretches and Patton knows he's going to regret taking it. "No harm, no foul, you're still alive even if you've just been...reborn so to speak," 

Patton feels cold and tired, his body feels new and alien...like it was once his own but isn't any longer. He has a lot of anger brewing under his veins and water trickles from the sky as if trying to wash it away. "I don't know who I am anymore," The young man whispers, Remus chuckles in response in a way that would tell anyone he's not going to be much help in the matter. he's played his part, the rest is for Patton to carry out. "Who...where...?" He trails off, the prince of Winter sighs, his breath hot against the cold air as he gestures. 

"Well you've just been cocooned in the undergrowth of the woods for for roughly four hours, what feels different?" Patton knows something feels wrong but he can't quite remember what that is, that feeling that...sound. His ears prick a little and he swears they move more than they used too. "Think of it like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly, something your body has always been able to do but only at the right time, a destiny if you will," He circles Patton a little as the man's blank eyes open, listening, and yes he can hear it...can understand it, the _forest_. "This is your chrysalis, and you've just become a butterfly, try not to fly into any woodchoppers," The prince's hand comes down against his back but not quite, against something Patton can feel as the sensation ripples through him and he dares to look over his shoulder. 

Many people would have a variety of different reactions upon realising they have wings; the first thing Patton does is bend double and throw up against the forest floor. "Sorry," He whispers to it, he swears it laughs in response. He looks again and they're there, not like Remus' large green and black ones, that are almost like satin, or Roman's which are interwoven with vines and flowers, or even Logan's pale feathered ones. These are almost see through, to look at they appear almost like water, but when he touches them they are not cold or wet. 

"Your Human half is playing catch up on something your more magical half has known since the day you were born," 

"What _am_ I?"

"An experiment," Remus hummed "A rather useless one in my opinion," The rain keeps falling "You have a lot of anger for a newborn, perhaps you should go take it out on someone?" He grins, sharp canines glinting, Patton's heart thuds with adrenaline at just the look. Over his shoulder, the forest branches peel back to reveal the iron gates and Remus' suggestion feels more pointed. "I'll come with you if you want, all you have to do is open the gate for me, you I cannot hurt, but I've seen what the people on the side of that gate have done to you, to Roman, even to poor little _Logan_," 

"L-Logan? What did they do to Logan?" 

"We're vicious but even we wouldn't stoop so low to hurt other Faeries, _we_ were the ones who dragged him out of there," Remus tuts a little "But as usual we get the blame; now Witches, Humans, they're free meat to us, it's why we tend to demand they remain where they're supposed to be during the day, sometimes we truly cannot be helped, especially when we're hungry," His laughter sounds too happy for the occasion "So I won't lie when I say we definitely ran after your little fire gremlin but I wouldn't truly take a bite out of those people in good conscience when I know I'd have to face Roman at the end of it," He pauses "If I have a good conscience," Remus leans a little on one leg, hand tucked under his chin in thought "But you've got a lot of power in there little one, and there are certainly some people who need punishing," He steps forward and places his hand between Patton's shoulder blades, before pushing him towards the gates "And now you can finally punish them," 

Something inside Patton is telling him to walk away, to find Roman and Virgil and Logan and cry and hope none of this is really happening to him. _Him!_ He's just Patton, he grew up in a shitty village with an alcoholic father and failed third grade maths like_ normal_ children. But even with this thought in mind he can hear the forest talking softly, the clouds and their voices. He can feel a thousand emotions he'd never felt in his life, speak languages he'd never learned to speak...and now he has wings. Something tells me there's more where this gift came from. "Addicting, isn't it?" Remus chuckled "_Feel_ your anger, and see what it can do," 

Patton, always curious, does as he's told. 

The sky screams in fury. Rain begins to pour even harder, like stones as it pelts to the ground; and the director of this play barely feels it, his eyes flashing an icy shade of pale blue, the veins in his skin _glowing_ with energy. The trees begins to twist and turn, the roots reaching up from the ground as if being summoned as they grow, the plants in the surrounding area begin to break through the soil in a horrifying masquerade of Roman's own powers. At the end of the forest the waves of the water make a noise that sounds like a hissed version of a battle cry. Everything that was once dead, everything living, everything half-alive can hear the shouts as long as they can understand. 

And the Humans hear a crack of thunder, and know that something is wrong.


	2. All of my goodness is gone with you now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for violence and torture

_"And I had no idea on what ground I was founded_  
_All of that goodness is going with you now_  
_Then when I met you, my virtues uncounted_  
_All of my goodness is going with you now,"_

_-Shrike, Hozier_

* * *

Virgil can't hear the forest when it speaks, but he knows when _something_ is wrong, and not just by the fact the Earth seems to breathe suddenly. "I get the feeling you're not doing that?" The Witch enquires softly as he stares at Roman with just a glimmer of hope, but that quickly fades with a shake of the prince's head. Emile, Remy and Dee stumble into the clearing they're currently residing in with equal amounts of panic on their faces. Logan's ears are straining to a voice on the other side of the forest, the water is screaming but not in pain...no more along the lines of victory. A look in the Princes' directions tell him they're hearing the same thing from the forest. "What, what is it?" The eldest Witch asks at the looks on their faces. 

"You should go home," Dee says softly "I think you'll be safer there," His dark eyes are wide and there's something so unreadable in them that Remy's heart skips a beat in his chest, more unreadable than usual..._no_, he decides quite firmly, he's not going _anywhere_. Instead the Witch squeezes his friend's hand and looks back at Emile, who nods. 

"You'll need a healer," Emile whispers, his wings fluttering nervously behind his back "So...I'm going with you," He's not even sure where he'd begin with treating Patton, but he gets the feeling he won't need it either. "Look, about Patton I...I ran some tests on his blood work," 

"We should probably talk about this later," Remy interjects, staring up at the sky that now looks something murderous. The clouds are bellowing and thundering, lightning streaking the sky in such quick succession that even Virgil knows that it cannot be natural. Emile opens his mouth to protest but in true fashion for these men, no one is listening to him. He sighs in frustration as they start to take off in the direction of the thunder storm, the clouds migrating and converging on one point. 

"One of these days these idiots will actually listen to something I say," He growls in frustration, before taking off after them. The undergrowth of the forest seems to have changed; the roots poking through the surface and moving like a living being. Of course, Emile had always known and respected the forest as something alive but this was something new and terrifying as he leaps over the trees roots and scrambles out of the grasps of suddenly vengeful groups of branches. He knows what's caused this, _who_ has caused this, but it's still not settling in his mind; neither is how Patton of all people could be..._that_.

A more pressing issue is that Patton is losing his Humanity, looking at the state he's caused, Emile could quickly conclude that his Human half is being suffocated by the magic. He's losing _everything_ that makes him Patton. 

\--

"Congratulations," Remus hums in amusement "You've managed to start the first Witch hunt in a fair few centuries," He chuckles, leaning his head on Patton's shoulder "I'm most certainly impressed, maybe this experiment wasn't so bad after all, this is the most fun I've had in years," The field they stood on was soaked in water, turning it into marshlands as each step brought mud unto your ankle. Patton sighs and wishes he knew how to use his winds. "Can you hear all that noise? That's all for you, applause if you like, the forest, the sea, the clouds themselves, all at your mercy...do you feel that power?" He grins and looked into the village as lightning struck down on the houses. "But, I suppose the root of the pain is the real one you want to punish?" 

"I do," Patton's voice sounds cold, like the ice of the mountains had gained consciousness and began to speak, even Remus shivers a little but it's accompanied with a maniacal grin. What tends to scare others only excites him. The once-Human begins to walk, soaked hair plastered to his pale face, eyes vacant and lips so pale he might've been dead, a living corpse. People scramble out of his way as he approaches the village and he watches, he pities those who have never wronged him because they still have to suffer, he can't control that. Wandering the empty streets he finds his home, the home he had grown up in, the home that had come from Hell itself. 

Patton is starting to wonder if that was where he came from too. 

He pushes the wooden door forcefully, it doesn't move. Remus snorts and waves a hand, the lock clicks open and the door swings. "Anybody home?" The prince giggles a little "Come out, come out, wherever you are!" He bounces through the house and into the main room; a kitchen and a living room rolled into one, where he finds who he is looking for. "Well this wasn't a very fun game, you're supposed to hide and I'm supposed to count and _then_ I'm supposed to find you!" Remus huffs as he sits on the table, the man is poised holding a shotgun as he stares at the two and then the man he'd called his son once. 

"Hello, father," Patton's father seems to freeze just a little, the voice feeling like ice cascading down his back and making every hair stand in worry. Lightning flashes outside. "Do you recognise me when the tables have turned? When I'm not smaller and more fragile? Do you want to know what it feels like to the smaller one, to be a defenceless punching bag? Do you want to feel all the pain you've caused? I bet you don't, because I bet you never thought the day would come where I could punch back," His eyes flash with electricity, little bolts of lightning crawling up his skin. 

A shot fires and a bullet lodges itself just under Patton's left collarbone, he stares at the bullet wound and then blinks at his father before pressing his fingers into his skin to pull out the bloody bullet, it clatters to the floor and his skin starts to knit itself back together as if it were merely a scratch. He holds out a hand, now stained with his own blood and a gift from the clouds as lightning pours from him into his father's body. "Every day I was something for you to take your anger out on," His voice doesn't raise, still and furious in his own quiet way. Patton's father thinks this is more terrifying than if he'd shouted. A man who is angry with a steady finger on the trigger is more dangerous than a man who's hands are shaking. The electricity hits in jolts, and the elder man falls back against the wall, gasping and clutching a heart that is threatening to give out "Do you know how that feels now? To be small and fragile and fear your own life?" 

Remus giggles a little as he watches, legs swinging in excitement as his moss-coloured eyes stare at the scene that is laid out before him. "Doesn't it feel good?" The prince whispers, like an imp you try to ignore but are faced with day after day. "That power, finally getting revenge? There's a whole village out there that can _feel_ your wrath now," Patton's eyes flicker briefly towards Remus, a cold sigh on his lips before he waves his hand and a firm, sharp and continuous bolt goes through the old man's heart. The Faery laughs with delight, clapping his hands in glee as he watches the old man's eyes turn white, the blood drain from his face that is pulled into a silent scream. Patton seems unmoved, simply staring blankly, watching.

He doesn't understand how this can feel good, he doesn't understand why his father enjoyed hurting him, or why Remus enjoys it so much. He lowers his hand and the electricity stops, the man keels over onto the floor and Patton can't tell if he's breathing. He crosses the room gracefully before kneeling beside his father, pressing his fingers to his neck where he can still feel his weak heartbeat. With a nod, he turns and walks away with Remus following behind like as an obedient puppy might. "You left him alive?" The Faery asked, confused "But he hurt you!" 

"Unfortunately that is Human nature," Patton hums quietly, stepping outside into the water soaked streets, large puddles starting to take up move of the pathways "Hurting, being hurt, it's a very Human thing," He stares around at the flooding village, "He didn't kill me or anyone, it's unfair for me to kill him, that isn't justice, that's simply murder," Patton takes in the scene around him, the trees branches were brushing at windows and doors, the roots digging through the earth and breaking through the surface; there were screams of terror to be heard everywhere and a small fire had begun at one end. Like a doomsday scene. "He felt the pain I have felt and hopefully it will make him think twice before doing it again," 

"You have too much Seelie in you," Remus sighs "Well it was fun whilst it lasted, I should've known better really," And then the Faery is off, not wanting to pick a fight with something so much bigger than he is. Even _he_ isn't that stupid.

A quiet scream attracts Patton's attention, high and shrill and full of sheer terror that plucks at his cold heartstrings and has him walking towards the source. His wings outstretch a little, an automatic response in defence it seems, as his footsteps trudge through water and mud to a tree that has twisted itself around a small body. The man tuts a little and shakes his head "Let them go, they've done nothing wrong," The tree releases the body, and a small child stumbles to the dirt, no older than seven. "Where is your mother? Who left you out here alone?" He kneels in the water and the dirt to wipe the crying child's eyes. Patton sighs a little and folds his wings as he lifts the child up. "Which home is yours?" His rage begins to calm as he holds the shaking child, their hand comes up to point, too lost in fright to articulate their words. 

Patton opens the door with one hand and is immediately faced with the barely of a shotgun, he sighs a little, getting more tired of Human arrogance as the day draws by "You left them alone outside, but you point the gun at me like I am a monster?" He hands the crying child over to the shaking mother as the father keeps the shotgun pointed at his head "it won't do anything, try if you like," He pauses, the father's hand quivers and for the first time in a few hours, Patton smiles a sharp and toothy smile "That's what I thought too," The door closes behind him and he makes his way up the hill, back towards the forest, rain still pouring in his wake. 


	3. I was hatched by your warmth (and thus transformed)

"I was hatched by your warmth,

And thus transformed,

But you're grounded and giving,

And darkening scorn,

Remember me love, 

When I'm reborn,

As the Shrike to your sharp and glorious thorn,"

-Shrike, Hozier

* * *

The sky above crackled with electricity, sharp bolts of lightning making a movie worthy picture of terror, that even those who are used to such scenes are trembling within the forests living earth. Remy's hands are shaking and hot to the touch with his own anxieties, and Virgil cannot be making the lightning feel much better in itself as his whole body shivers from cold and something so much worse. Roman looks pale, skin clammy, whilst Dee has gone an ashen colour, as though the forest was climbing inside their inhibitions; but all the screaming is really starting to effect them. Emile, surprisingly, is the least worse for wear as he treds through the iron gate into the village and stares at the scene the boy had left in his trail. 

Logan is barely blinking at this point, watching as water pools in the grass so deep it reaches his thin ankles. "Patton did this?" He whispers, right before another body collides with his own. The Siren lets out some sort of undignified sound as he grasps Roman's arm for support, turning to see the newcomer who is...someone he'd never seen before in his life, but Roman and Dee move quicker than light; Dee's teeth bared in a snarl momentarily as Roman grips the back of the strangers flimsy shirt and growls. 

"What did you do?" The Spring prince shouts, his voice clouded with a thousand different emotions that none of them are quite sure they can feel themselves; but, when confronted with a brother you haven't seen in two centuries, knowing his reputation for deadly escapades, one can only feel sixteen different types of fury at the thought of a loved one being harmed. 

"My _job,_ Roman, I didn't harm him in anyway that wasn't already foretold, and if you know what is good for you I wouldn't try either, he's not calming any time soon," The stranger wriggles out of his brother's grasp, and Virgil realises with a start they both look remarkably similar. Except the stranger's eyes were a dark green, like moss that was worse for wear, and had the capability of growing facial hair. He adds in his mind, at the worst time possible to be thinking about these things, that Roman's jawline is much sharper, and is overall more attractive; not because of any of the above reasons, but Virgil would find it hard to be attracted to a man who looks too happy about this situation. 

"What _is_ he, Remus?" 

"How have you not figured it out yet?" A giggle escapes Remus' pale lips as he gestures around them "Have you never read a book in your life, brother?" The laughter doesn't cease and nothing about it sounds like the happy sort of laughter._ Like Patton's laughter,_ Roman thinks, _happy and full of life_. "Why do you never listen when you need to?" Emile snorts from the side at this remark, shaking his damp curls that are so heavy with water they feel like weights. "You, the clever one," Remus continues, pointing at the Witch with the Hummingbird wings "You're giving them a look that the smartest person in the room gives people, what do you think he is?" Emile hesitates a moment, glancing at Roman, who nods as though giving him permission to speak.

"Well, when I ran his blood work there was a prominent form of magic in him, a magic that most people can't even find anymore," He looks down at the electricity striking the ground and shivers, knowing if he'd just found and told Patton immediately this could've been stopped. "If I had to take a scientific guess...he's an _experiment_, nothing like that could exist through...breeding," He pauses, looking back at Remus' gleeful eyes. 

"You know, this one deserves a medal, he's definitely been paying attention," His hands clap together excitedly, the noise ricochets off of every nearby surface and then some. "The little Human was the last option, and honestly if you ever tried reading a book Roman you would know this, _come on_, even I've read this one," That giggle again, dripping with malice. "When it became clear that Humans didn't want to try and assimilate with us, and some of us...got a little more bloodthirsty, the big guns got their heads together and tried to find away to build a weapon that no Human could harm so that their endless annihilation of the natural world might cease," Remus' dark, gnarly nails gesture towards the devastated village "Patton is that secret weapon," 

"But what magic is he? How is he doing all this?" Roman presses, feeling like his heart is about to shatter in his chest at any moment at the thought of Patton, _his Patton_, being used by the old gods as a pawn in their play when he'd tried so hard to run from religion.

"Well, mostly he's..." Emile sighs a little, looking down at his feet "You remember the tales you used to read to me about the first Faeries? How the water, the earth, the fire and the wind all took physical form and created them? And they were the first princes? Then each time a prince dies the candidates have to fight to see which of them has more of the old Faery magic in them, to prove resilience and strength?" Roman doesn't like where this is headed "That old magic...I've studied it in theory out of curiosity and never thought I'd see it physically until I read Patton's bloodwork, I couldn't find Faery magic in him because I was looking at Faery magic now and not the original elementals," Their eyes go to the village, a fire was starting to catch much deeper in the damp earth, spreading as the wind pushes it, a remarkable sight in such heavy rain. "You told me that one day the four elementals would converge once more and form a King," Roman staggers backward with a shake of his head. Remus laughs at him and steadies the shaking prince. _It was just a story, a fairytale to tell young Faeries. **It can't be.**_

_"Well Roman, there's your King,"_


End file.
